2023 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 893 - Limitations of commencement of actions and proceedings; procedure for claims against governmental units.
893.83 - Damages caused by accumulation of snow or ice; liability of city, village, town, and county.
893.83 Damages caused by accumulation of snow or ice; liability of city, village, town, and county. No action may be maintained against a city, village, town, or county to recover damages for injuries sustained by reason of an accumulation of snow or ice upon any bridge or highway, unless the accumulation existed for 3 weeks. Any action to recover damages for injuries sustained by reason of an accumulation of snow or ice that has existed for 3 weeks or more upon any bridge or highway is subject to s. 893.80.
History: 2003 a. 214 ss. 136, 137, 189; 2011 a. 132.
NOTE: 2003 Wis. Act 214, which affected this section, contains extensive explanatory notes.
Shoveling snow from a sidewalk to create a mound along the curb does not create an unnatural or artificial accumulation that renders a city liable. Kobelinski v. Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Corp., 56 Wis. 2d 504, 202 N.W.2d 415 (1972).
City liability arising from snow and ice on sidewalks is determined under the standard of whether, under all the circumstances, the city was unreasonable in allowing the condition to continue. Circumstances to be considered include location, climactic conditions, accumulation, practicality of removal, traffic on the sidewalk, and intended use of the sidewalk by pedestrians. Schattschneider v. Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Corp., 72 Wis. 2d 252, 240 N.W.2d 182 (1976).
This section does not apply to a stairway connecting sidewalks. Although case law has extended the meaning of “highways" to include sidewalks, “highways" do not include stairways connecting sidewalks. Henderson v. Milwaukee County, 198 Wis. 2d 747, 543 N.W.2d 544 (Ct. App. 1995), 95-2294.
As used in this section, “highway" includes the shoulder of the highway. Morris v. Juneau County, 219 Wis. 2d 543, 579 N.W.2d 690 (1998), 96-2507.
A “highway" is an area that the entire community has free access to travel on. A public parking lot is available to the entire community for vehicular travel, and, as such, a city's public parking lot is a “highway" for purposes of this section. Ellerman v. City of Manitowoc, 2003 WI App 216, 267 Wis. 2d 480, 671 N.W.2d 366, 03-0322.
When an accumulation of ice is created by natural conditions, a municipality has three weeks to address the problem. Actions based on artificial accumulations are actionable without the three-week requirement. To be an artificial condition, grading must be part of a drainage design plan or be shown to divert water from other sources onto the sidewalks. If not, grading, by itself, does not create an artificial condition on land even if the municipality had notice that a hazardous condition existed. Gruber v. Village of North Fond du Lac, 2003 WI App 217, 267 Wis. 2d 368, 671 N.W.2d 692, 03-0357.
NOTE: The above annotations cite to s. 81.15, the predecessor statute to this section.
The first sentence of this section grants municipalities a period of absolute immunity for claims based on snow and ice accumulations that have existed less than three weeks. The second sentence clarifies that immunity is not absolute if the snow or ice accumulation has existed for three weeks or more—under such circumstances, a claim is subject to s. 893.80, like any other tort claim against a municipality. Knoke v. City of Monroe, 2021 WI App 6, 395 Wis. 2d 551, 953 N.W.2d 889, 19-2003.
